Hermione's White Knight
by BBRAE623
Summary: How much different would Hermione's life had been if she could rely on her half ghost cousin?
1. Convocation

_A/N: AU - Danny got his powers just before he turned thirteen and had been advanced a grade, getting into high school early, adding to his un-popularity. He had his powers for just over a year when the story starts and is thirteen. When Hermione starts school he will be just 14 and she will be 12. Danny has his father's height and his mother's build early on and doesn't really grow all that much._

CHAPTER 1 - Convocation

October 31st 1990

London England

9:24 PM

Rain pounded against the shutters while the wind was screeching through the trees, howling down the road, driving the rain ever faster, leaching the heat from everything. The clouds were dark and ominous, their deluge never ending, lightning crackling across the sky, thunder chasing after, roaring in the heavens. The pure sound rattling the glass in its panes so violently as almost to shatter it into a thousand glittering pieces. The lightning had struck down upon one of man's greater metal monstrosities, exploding sparks into the storm and depriving many of power in their homes. In one particular home, was a ten year old girl and her two parents, they had candles lit, curtains drawn, and blankets wrapped around them. There was not light to see their books, there was hardly light to see each other's faces, and so they spoke to each other, and they told tales, tales of monsters; zombies and murderers and the most frightening of all - ghosts. One spoke, and two listened as, in soft tones, the horror unfolded from the speaker's mouth and despite the noise of the storm, they could hear every word perfectly.

"-and as they were cowering on the floor, huddled around a candle, their hearts pounding like drums in their ears, there came a knock upon the door."

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK

And there came the sound of a small girl, screaming in fright at the unexpected sound, and a thump as they hit the floor. Then came twin sighs and the story teller spoke once more.

"Hermione, can you check and see if your father is alright?" Both mother and daughter got up, the mother for the door and the daughter to check on her father, who had just screamed.

"Yes mum." The ten year old girl knelt down by her father, his face was pallid and he was clutching his chest, hand over a heart that was pounding entirely too fast. She put a hand on his arm and he jumped again, his eyes having been closed to calm himself down. "Are you all right?" she asked, concern in her eyes as he nodded hurriedly.

"Yes dear, just need a moment to let the ticker settle back down. Why don't you go see who's at the door with your mother?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes dear, I'm sure." He nodded, putting his hand on his daughter's shoulder to move her along. "Go along now." She smiled and nodded, but before either could move more, Emma Granger came back in the room followed by two Dark individuals. The two had long dark coats, slick and dripping from the storm, the taller of the two, at around six feet was topped with a wide brimmed fedora tipped to the front, and water slowly dripping off. The shorter of the two, stood at just under six feet and while physically smaller, seemed the more imposing of the two. "Emma?" The girl's father, Dan, asked, wondering why two strangers were dripping on his carpets.

"Dan," the smaller of the two seemed to tense "this is the lawyer I told you would be coming?" at his blank look she expounded "To finalize the papers? The adoption papers?" Hermione's head snapped up at that so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash, and her head whipped around nearly as fast when she heard her father agree.

"Oh, yes, I remember, that was today. I guess what with the storm and the power outage it must have just slipped my mind." Hermione, lip quivering, heart fluttering in her chest like the butterflies in her stomach asked-

"A-adoption? You're giving me up for adoption?" she tried to hide her tears as everyone just gaped at her. "Di-did I do something wrong? I'll do better! I promise I will!" Her mother seemed to get snapped out of it the quickest.

"Hermione,-" she spoke softly

"I'll do extra chores and I won't ask for any more books-" an admission that nearly re-shocked her poor parents who were the only ones who had any scope of how much of a bibliophile their daughter was.

"Hermione-," her mother tried to speak once more

"Please don't make me leave mummy! Please!" her daughter was clearly having hysterics. Emma knelt down to her hyperventilating daughter and grasped a hold of her shoulders.

"HERMIONE!" Hermione's hysterics paused for a beat, just long enough for her mother to tell her "Hermione, we're not putting you up for adoption, we're getting an older brother for you." Hermione looked in her mother's eyes, finding nothing but sincerity, and said-

"But I don't want an older brother." The four others in the house nearly fell over at her rather quick turn around and decision.

"Her…Hermione, he's actually your cousin, from America. We're taking him in because his immediate family all died in an attack, a bombing on his house by some church group or another."

"But why would the church bomb a house, it make no sense at all!"

"Hermione, do you remember three years ago, at the family reunion, the family in the bright hazmat suits?"

"Yes, you said they were lunatics, completely bonkers." Emma winced at this and her eyes flicked towards the smaller figure again, but he hadn't moved. At all. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Yes, well, I said that because they were trying to prove ghosts existed-"

"But that's preposterous, everyone knows monsters aren't real." At this both of the parents actually did wince. The smaller figure was still stone still.

"Not all ghosts are evil dear, and a year ago, your cousin's parent's proved that ghosts _do_ exist. They opened up something of a gateway to another world where all of the ghosts were and their entire town was haunted." Hermione looked like she was going to say something but her mother put a finger against her lip, silencing her. "Do you remember, a couple of months ago, we had that scare with the asteroid, but we survived?" Hermione lit up at a chance to answer her mother's question

"Yes! There was a global collaboration to install something called 'fenton-tech' cables around the world, they sent their designs to every computer on the planet and then erased it the next day. But when the device was finally constructed they used it to turn the entire earth and its surrounding atmosphere intangible for thirty two seconds to allow an asteroid that would have otherwise have ended all life on earth to pass through harmlessly. There was supposed to be an American super-hero, the first ever, super-hero in the world, who led the effort. He called himself Danny Phantom and because of the ethereal quality his powers gave him when he drew upon them, he called them his 'ghost powers'. He was supposed to be a teenage-wait a second, are you telling me he _had_ ghost powers? _Actual_ ghost powers? From _real_ ghosts? Ghosts are _real_? But wha-" she began to ramble questions at speed. Such high speed that the two figures were impressed that she could say it without stopping, biting her tongue, or indeed, needing to breath apparently.

"Hermione, he has no one else to go to, and he is my nephew, your cousin, so he'll be staying here with us now, like a brother." Hermione blinked at having been interrupted.

"Well, what's his name? And when do I get to meet him?" at that moment the power came back on and everyone took a minute too look around before focusing in on Emma who looked back at the pair and held out a hand to the two as the smaller one stepped forward, lowering his hood. His hair was an inky raven black, his skin was pale and nearly flawless, a scar on the right side of his lips reaching down across both lips and to the bottom of his jaw, the only asymmetricallity, but his eyes, they captivated her. She did not know how it was possible for his eyes to hold that much pain, that much grief, that much sorrow without his very being imploding in upon itself, and yet they did. As she stared into those tortured globes she faintly recognized her mother's voice in the background.

"Hermione, this is Danny Fenton, your father's step-brother's son. He's also known as Danny Phantom, the hero we were just talking about. He's going to be your new brother." Hermione's brain took a few seconds to register what her mother had just said, still captivated by the new arrivals soulful eyes, but when her brain did register it, the entire neighborhood heard her.

"_WHAT?!"_

November 12th 1990

"Pleeeeeeaaaaaase?"

"..."

"Hmph!" Hermione waited for five minutes with her arms crossed and her back turned, nose in the air, waiting for him to give in like her father always did. When he didn't give in after five minutes of her pouting, she turned around to find that he wasn't even there anymore. This was the twenty-second time to date that he had just disappeared on her. And her _still_ refused to talk. To anyone. He hadn't uttered a single word, not even a peep, since he had arrived, he just gave them looks and nodded or shook his head, sometimes just staring at them to until they realized what he was trying to say. Sure he had done what was asked of him, chores, errands, helping set the table, even fixing a flat her father had, but he still never spoke. At first she thought he didn't speak to them because she had offended him by calling ghosts, and by extension him, monsters, so she had apologized - to no effect.

Fine.

If he wasn't going to talk to her then _she_ wasn't going to talk to _him_.

November 13th 1990

Hermione had been excited today, it was the day she went to her favorite bookstore, she had a gift card that she had been saving, and she had just enough for the next book in her series, written by an new young author. The books weren't all that long or, honestly, that good, but you could feel the emotions that went through each character as her described them and what they went through, it was very cathartic. It was almost like having friends. But then her mother had thought it would be 'nice' if her cousin were to take her. 'Nice chance to bond' had been her words. Yeah, right, like that was going to happen.

They had gone to the bookstore, both of them riding bikes, and almost immediately people were staring at them...no, they were staring at _him_. They were ignoring _her._ She _hated_ to be ignored, not that she wasn't used to it - the people in school, in the park, in the bookstore, but now it was worse. Now people were actively ignoring her, looking at him and glancing at her before dismissing her and looking back at him. It was somehow worse to be associated as part of a pair and then dismissed as not as interesting than to have people dismiss her out of hand as a stranger. Danny payed attention to her...sort of, but these people knew she was good enough to associate with him but not good enough for _them_ to pay attention to. Was she that ignorable? Was there something wrong with her? Was she not good enough? What made _him_ good enough?

Eventually she had gotten so frustrated with it all that she had kicked him in the shin, happy enough at the time to see him hopping around on one leg, it wasn't until later that she saw some blonde bint come up to him and put her hand suggestively on his shoulder, like she had read in one of her books her mother gave her with the pictures of the almost naked people on the cover. He was getting so much attention! Why did people want to be friends with _him_ and not _her_? They didn't even _know_ him! She even recognized a few of the people, and she knew they recognized her, so why was _he_ so deserving of a chance to be friends when _she_ wasn't? It infuriated her even more and for the rest of the week she refused to even be in the same room as him. Her mother was able to talk her down but she still refused to look at or speak to him.

December 24th 1990

Hermione was at the park by the pond with her family...and him. She didn't even know why he came along, it wasn't like he even did anything. He just sat there in the snow, in a _short sleeved shirt_ letting her mother fuss over him. He didn't say anything to her either, so why did she put up with him? He was supposed to be family, so why did he hate them like this? Why didn't her mother or father ever say anything? Why? Why? _Why_? She took a walk to get away and would have continued her angry path of thought, but she was interrupted.

"Hey, kid." She turned around to see a man in heavy clothing, not that odd considering all of the snow, but still, he gave her a bad feeling, like she was dirty just from looking at him "Your parents got a phone on them?" she swallowed and ,against her better instincts, answered him.

"Well, they're all the way over there," she turned and pointed then started to turn back "but I could go as-" she never got to finish her sentence as his hand was clamped over her mouth and her body was dragged away by another hand wrapped around her stomach, pulling her to the man reeking of filth.

"Well, it's too bad that your parents are so far away, but it looks like Christmas came a day early, for me at least. Now stay still and I won't hurt you."

Hermione was terrified. Where were her parents? They were supposed to take care of her, they were supposed to be there for her! Where were they?! By now she had started to cry and the only thing keeping her from hyperventilating was the hand over her mouth. She had almost peed herself. It was barely two seconds, an eternity to her, until she realized that he was going to hurt her no matter what, and she needed to try to do something. What else was she to do? She squirmed about, bit his hand hard enough that something crunched, and the moment she was free, about one and a half tortuously long seconds later flicked her eyes towards the only hero she knew and cried out for help.

"DANNY! HEEEEELP! HEEE-MMMPH!" she was cut off however, by the man stuffing a hat in her mouth, one so dirty she almost gagged from the smell alone, never mind the _taste_, and then he was off running. In the second and a half that she was free and calling for help, she saw her cousin's head snap up, the dusting of snow on his head scattering, and once his eyes locked onto her and then her abductor his usual apathetic mask shattered, replaced by rage. Rage was almost too calm a word to use for it, he looked murderous. The look on his face was so terrifying in its promise of harm that she froze up and whimpered before realizing that it wasn't directed at her but her attacker, who had also frozen up. Danny stood up and tensed to start running and the only word her attacker could use to sum up the situation was -

"Shit."

Danny put his left side back, turning so his right hand, now a fist, was tight into his front side he bent his legs, face set in determination and then it happened. A ring of the purest white light formed at his middle, giving an almost indiscernible double pulse before it split, exactly as he launched himself straight at them. That was all she saw, because when he launched himself her attacker turned and _ran_.

She was jostled around so much that when it happened she hardly registered it, they were tackled, and suddenly she was in a much softer embrace. The arms that held her were actually firmer and one of them very hard, but the _way_ she was held, it was with care, like they were afraid of hurting her but determined to hold on. She finally came to a stop in the soft arms, sounds of fearful screaming coming to her ears. She stayed still, hearing her parents call out to her, her body trembling as the screams finally cut off. She chanced a look, to see what was going on, and was confused. Her left eye saw white and her right, black, but they both saw fabric of some kind, from what she could tell of what her face was pressed against, it was tough too.

Hermione looked up and what she saw made her gasp.

The person holding her was glowing, light was literally coming from him, his clothes too. His boots were white, but covered with shining layered white metal greaves, each layer shaped like a widened 'v' over the next and holding an intricately carved design. They were thin, elegant, stopped at his knees, and ended in three sharp superfluous yet deadly looking points. His pants were black and, again, skin tight, separated from his shirt by a white belt of the same material. Over the belt was what seemed like two silver chords, wrapped loosely over and around his hips, and at his left hip, they tied around the sheath of a sword. His sword was silver, the blade appearing to be two and a half feet long, four inches wide and its fuller a dull grey a half inch wide a third of a way up the blade. Its cross guard was dark grey metal in the shape of a dragon head so the blade seemed to erupt from its mouth as viewed from above, the teeth extending the slightest bit along the sword while three spikes jutted out at either side of its head. The spikes jutted out towards the tip of the blade, longer ones directly left and right, and the longest yet pointing towards the pommel, each horn as intricately crafted as the face of the dragon which was as intricate as the rest of his armor. The hilt was eight inches long and wrapped in black leather, while the pommel held a dark emerald on over a blood red sliver of ruby over another emerald, giving it the appearance of a red slitted green dragon eye. The sheath for the blade was simple silver and black leather the silver accents un-carved and shining. His shirt was black and white, the black going over his abs going up and slowly curving out until, just above his armpits, it wrapped around his shoulders. The sides of his torso and his arms were connected and covered, both by the same white as his boots. His gloves though, were covered like his boots in the same layered style forming gauntlets this time. His gauntlets were a work of art, holding the same elegant layered wide 'v' style as his greaves and the same carvings too, yet these were made of a metal so dark it seemed to suck the light from the very air and made her shiver. Each gauntlet covered his entire forearm and down to his hand, leading into razor sharp claws at the end of his fingers, however, the gauntlet on his left arm was different. The gauntlet on his left arm covered his _entire_ left arm and the carvings were shining like starlight, reminiscent of shining black flames, flames that seemed to be originating from the ornate silver dragon shoulder guard at the top, the horns the same white metal spiraling together with the dark metal. Danny's collar was white and came down from the middle of his neck to just under his clavicles, it connected to a cape that on the outside seemed to give off pure white light but on the inside was blacker than any night she could remember. His hair was as white as his cape, so white it almost made the snow seem dirty and was in a mid-back length ponytail, a few stray strands framing his face. His eyes though, those same eyes that held all of that hurt and pain and torment, those same icy blue eyes were now a toxic green and held nothing but concern, for her she realized. So, in a shaking voice she asked-

"Danny?" whatever answer he would or would not give she would never know as her parents had finally reached her and were clamoring to get closer, to reassure themselves as much as her that she was alright. They were talking to her, she could hear her name being said, but all she did was to blink and ask, almost in a whisper- "What happened to the man?" Danny's face darkened and her parent's paused and as one they all turned and looked, Hermione did too a moment later and saw the man who had attacked her, upside down, frozen by his ankles and hands to a tree, blood rushing to his face and green...stuff covering his mouth and eyes, standing next to him was...another Danny, just as regal and majestic and scary...and it made her feel safe.

She was safe. She was safe and he wasn't going to hurt her and- and- and...and so she broke down and cried.

"I-I-I-I I w-was so s-s-scared. I-I thou-ght, I thought he was going to, to take me a-and I'd never see any of you e-ever ag-ain a-a-and, and, a-a-and-!" at this point she couldn't speak at all anymore so she leant into the chest of the one who made her feel safe, the one who was holding her, the one who, despite having never said a word to her, held such concern for her well being, and she cried. She cried herself to sleep in fact.

Hermione woke up on her family's couch, still clutching her cousin's shirt. She looked up to find, a normal one hundred percent human silent cousin bobbing his head to music he was listening to on his iPod, his eyes closed and arms still holding her. It was then that she realized that she was laying on top of him and blushed. She shifted to get up off of him and he immediately stopped bobbing, his eyes snapping open to lock onto her making her freeze. She blinked

"Hi." He blinked again "Um...I...I wanted to say thank you." Blink "For coming to save me, even when I was being a bit of a prat to you." He cocked his head to the left and gave her a confused look "Um, I was being mean to you because you didn't want to speak and I shouldn't have tried to force you, or been mean to you when you wouldn't. I-I mean I shouldn't hav-mmm!" her eyes widened when he used his fingers to close her lips and stop her apology. He shook his head and cocked it again, taking his fingers from her lips he seemed to be asking her something. She looked at him, really looked at him, directly in the eyes and _willed _herself to know what he was thinking, and in a flash, she did, sorta "You want to know what 'prat' means?" next he smiled, a small proud smile that actually reached his eyes and nodded "Um, well...in American terms I think it would be something like 'jerk' or 'arse'." She whispered. Danny snorted, face alight with amusement making her blush. "So, um, thanks." He just nodded and smiled at her, ruffling her bushy hair, making her give and indignant cry of "Danny!" before huffing about how difficult it was to tame her hair and not needing any of his help.

"So," she started, sitting next to him on the couch "what were you listening to?" he looked at her, smirking slightly and took one ear-bud out before offering it to her and turning his iPod back on hitting play. She listened to if for a second before putting the bud in her ear and asking "May I?" and gesturing to his player he nodded and offered it to her, looking at the screen which displayed 'Butthole Surfers, Pepper, Electriclarryland'. She looked on in...confused surprise at the name while the song none the less drew her in. Soon enough she was kicking her feet and twisting her shoulders to the beat her head swaying to the forward shoulder. And she stayed like that, listening to music with Danny until her mother called out-

"Kids! Time for dinner!"

No one spoke of what happened in the park, but Hermione sat by Danny, and close too. When it was his turn to do the dishes, she followed him around, helping out where she could putting things away, helping dry while he washed, and directing him where certain things went. When it was time to go to bed she asked that Danny tuck her in, which he did, but then she asked him to stay.

"Don't go, please?" he cocked his head in soft askance "You make me feel safe...and I'm afraid something will happen if you leave." She admitted blushing, Danny sighed and sat down on her bed, using his pointing finger to push the girl by her forehead back down onto her pillow, pulled the blankets up to her chin and sat there. It was only nine thirty. By ten he had given her his iPod. By eleven he was beginning to think it was just keeping her up. Rock and roll and metal will do that, he didn't have his instrumentals, orchestras, jazz and acapella on that iPod. When it was almost midnight he took the music away from her, despite her protests, took a deep breath, and sighed. Then, he began to sing.

_Goodnight, my angel__  
__Time to close your _eyes

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing  
_  
And save these questions for another day__  
__  
_His voice, it was like his eyes. You could _feel_ the emotion from it. You knew _exactly_ what he was feeling.__

I think I know what you've been asking me_  
__I think you know what I've been trying to say_

She could feel it, she could feel the love, the care and concern in his voice, she could feel how much he cared about her and how worried her was._  
__  
__I promised I would never leave you__  
__And you should always know__  
__Wherever you may go__  
__No matter where you are__  
__I never will be far away___

She believed him. She logically knew he couldn't always be there, but she knew he would always protect her, always be there for her, and she felt safe. She felt as safe as she had in his arms as he sung to her and it lifted a weight she hadn't known was there from her shoulders.__

_Goodnight, my angel__  
__Now it's time to sleep__  
__And still so many things I want to say__  
__Remember all the songs you sang for me__  
__When we went sailing on an emerald bay__  
__And like a boat out on the ocean__  
__I'm rocking you to sleep__  
__The water's dark__  
__And deep inside this ancient heart__  
__You'll always be a part of me___

Hermione smiled and closed her eyes, suddenly drowsy, she felt so cozy and warm, and it was coming from inside of her heart.__

_Goodnight, my angel__  
__Now it's time to dream__  
__And dream how wonderful your life will be__  
__Someday your child may cry__  
__And if you sing this lullaby__  
__Then in your heart__  
__There will always be a part of me_

_Someday we'll all be gone__  
__But lullabies go on and on...__  
__They never die__  
__That's how you__  
__And I__  
__Will be"_

"Goodnight Danny." She murmured to him

"Goodnight Angel." He murmured back. As she left with Morpheus there was a truly happy smile on her face and all of the day's trouble was forgotten. It was a truly beautiful thing.

Danny trailed off, the memory of his voice lingering in the air, the silence softer somehow than it had been before. Slowly, so as not to wake her, he got up from her bed, kissed her forehead, and left her room, backing out and closing her door behind him and turned around, only to come face to face with Emma Granger. Without saying anything, she hugged him, and just stayed like that for several minutes until he hugged her back.

"Thank you." She didn't need to say anything more as he rubbed her back. Eventually she broke away and gave a small sniffle, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes an nodding to him. "You have a beautiful singing voice Danny. Thank you for sharing it with her." He blushed, something she thought was adorable on him and just nodded. "Happy Christmas Danny." Danny checked his watch. 12:02 AM. A Happy Christmas indeed.

December 25th 1990

Hermione slowly woke up, a smile on her heart and drool on the side of her face. Of course, when she realized she was drooling she sat up and wiped it off...then proceeded to yawn and smile. She was smiling. She didn't know _why_ she was smiling other than that she was immensely happy, but she didn't know why she was immensely happy, I mean, especially not after yesterd-...yesterday. It all came back to her, the anger, the park, Danny, the singing. '_The Singing! Oh, he had a lovely voice. He should sing more often!' _Immediately Hermione looked around for Danny, and jumped out of bed when she couldn't find him. She sped across the hall, throwing open the door to his room, only to find that it was empty, and she frowned...then her face lit up in realization. _Of course, it's Christmas! He would be waiting for me to wake up so we can open presents together!'_ So she sped out of her room, down the hall and straight into the living room where stood the tree- a _real_ tree! Not the fake plastic one that got set up every year by her parents, but a real, vibrant, organic Christmas tree! Under it were presents and on it were holiday baubles, and on the very top was a golden star that she had never seen before! It was _beautiful_. Hermione couldn't keep the smile off of her face, and she didn't try to either. She turned to the couch where her parents were and saw them smiling and cuddling under a blanket, immediately she asked-

"Where's Danny?" before either of them said anything, she felt a tapping on her shoulder. She whipped around so fast that her hair actually hurt as it hit in her face, but her smile was still there as she launched herself, screaming "DANNY!" and pulled the halfa into a hug. She couldn't see, but he was smiling too, a gentle honest smile that hadn't graced his face for a long time. When she finally looked up she saw the smile and told him "Happy Christmas Danny." And to her surprise, he responded

"Happy Christmas Angel."

It was the best Christmas she had ever had.

Danny had gotten her a book containing the entire history of the Ghost Zone, the entire _infinite_ Ghost Zone that existed for at least as long as there was life on earth, each chapter containing one hundred years of history. It was a large book. The book, however, was actually a ghostly artifact that even as large as it was on the outside, actually had more paged on the inside. It would take many years to finish that book, even at the rate she read, never mind that it was self updating. He owed the Ghost Writer for this big time.

January 14th 1991

There was chaos. All around there was danger, Danny didn't know how it had come to this, just one and a half hours ago he had been sitting down to ice cream with Hermione, his tiny cousin. They had really been getting along much better ever since he saved her and she seemed to understand that his silence was not just a a slight upon her, it was his way of mourning.

*CRASH*

Another item destroyed. He had never faced such terror before, such energy, it made him tremble in fear. He would rather face Pariah Dark than the foe he was pitted against. She was coming closer, her insane cackling echoing down the hallways, the sounds of her dread stead's approach sounding ominously. Oh god, how would he ever explain to Hermione's parents what happened?

Just then the door handle jostled, the grinding of the key being inserted into the lock seeming loud even though he could barely hear it over the present commotion. Almost as if in slow motion, the door handle turned, the door swung open, and Dan and Emma walked in. Immediately they froze, Dan with his coat over his arm and hand on the doorknob, Emma half in half out of the house, taking the step up required to enter. After registering the destruction of their home, a brown and beige blur sped through the room, cackling madly before exiting again. The two elder Grangers took all of this in with a calm stoicism before turning just their heads to Danny, who saw the wise course of action as to hide behind the couch that had been somehow displaced. Dan Stared a moment more before asking the terrified young man-

"Was that Hermione riding an alpaca?" and as if she heard her name being spoken, she sped by again, still laughing maniacally. The hyperventilating halfa just nodded, all he could do at that moment. Dan just pursed his lips and nodded. Emma tilted her head to the side, giving him a pitying look.

"You gave her sugar didn't you?" she asked. Eyes wide and breath short the half was about to nod when the demon called his name.

"DANNYYYYY!" He turned in fear of what he might face and saw the alpaca bucking and Hermione using the momentum to jump, straight for him. In the half second he had before she impacted him, Danny whimpered.

February 22nd 1991

Hermione stood before her parents, her expression intense, a book in each hand, while Danny stood amused beside her. Hermione was trying her hand at reading body language. The only problem was that all of the body language books were in different languages, and the only foreign language dictionary that the library near her house had had was in Mandarin Chinese, and so, here she was, dictionary in her right hand, guide in her left hand, and Danny standing to the right of her while her parents were sitting amused on the couch in front of the two. A look of epic concentration on her face, she opened her mouth, as if to impart some great wisdom upon those waiting for her to speak, and sagely declared with a nod of her head-

"He's horny."

The speed at which Danny's head whipped around would have killed him if he wasn't already half way there, simultaneously he blanched, and Hermione's parent's faces were the perfect picture's of shock. In the next second, the still pale boy whipped around, at the same incredible speed, and looked, pleadingly yet at the same time mortified, towards the couple on the couch as if to say 'She's wrong. She's crazy. You _can't_ believe that!'

"Oh, wait-" Hermione spoke again flipping pages as she did so, then squinting at something written in the decrepit tome, completely unaware of all of the eyes of the room's occupant's on her "my mistake, he's proud and hungry!" she suddenly heard her mother laughing and looked up to see her holding her sides, rocking back and forth on the couch, her father scrutinizing Danny, and Danny with his face buried in both of his hands. Hermione looked at each of them in turn, confused, while Danny seemed to wipe his hands down his face, suddenly not hungry _or_ proud, and he seemed mortified if the look on his face was anything to go by. After another round of looks by Hermione and her mother was down to mild fits of laughter she asked the room at large- "What?"

March 10th 1991 - Hermione's birthday

It was seven in the afternoon and Hermione had just had the best birthday party she ever remembered having! She had a Chocolate cake, presents from her family -Danny was now included in that- and she had a _non_-family member come as well! Danny's friend Andrew (The Ghost Writer) who had read every book she had as well and could even talk to her about them! She had debated favorite parts of romance novels with him even! At first it was a bit odd that his voice echoed and he bobbed up and down, floating all the time, but after a few minutes to get oriented he was an _excellent_ conversationalist! He had left through a swirling green vortex of energy from whence all manner of voices in all manner of languages could be heard, screaming, laughing, crying, singing even over the constant background of whispers. It was odd and scary and terribly fascinating. She had gotten her first glimpse of the Ghost Zone that she had spent over three months reading about. That had been almost an hour ago and she was now reading through her index of ghost species and anatomy, also a lot bigger on the inside than out and self updating.

There was a knock on the front door of the Granger residence.

Having tuned everything out and yet almost expecting it, Hermione did not jump when her name was suddenly called and her book shut and confiscated, but she did protest-

"Mum! I had just gotten to the part about the ecto-illeacytogeum!" Hearing a snort she glared at her cousin before sighting a stern elderly woman in deep green robes. She looked like she had just swallowed something sour and was disapproving of it at the same time, somehow making _you_ feel like you did something wrong, just seeing her made Hermione want to straighten her back even more than it already was. "Oh," was her eloquent response "hello." She said cautiously, getting up so as not to appear rude.

"Honey," her mother spoke "this is Professor McGonagall, she said she has something to speak to the family about in regards to your schooling." Hearing this Hermione's eyes went wide as her mind conjured up imaginary things she might have done wrong and how severe the consequences must be to have a _Professor_ come by to deliver her punishment. "Professor McGonagall, this is Hermione and that is Daniel." Hermione gulped and figured that if she was painfully polite it might not be so bad, so she stepped forward, extending her hand.

"Hello Professor, it's nice to meet you." With a brisk yet firm handshake Professor McGonagall nodded to her and responded in kind

"Good evening miss Granger, it is nice to meet you as well." With a quick glance to Danny then back to the elder Grangers McGonagall continued "This will be a private discussion, it is not for anyone but immediate family." Before anyone could say anything however, Hermione spoke again.

"But Danny _is_ family." Imperiously raising an eyebrow, McGonagall quipped

"Indeed? Might I ask how close?"

"He's my cousin, and like my big brother, I trust him with everything." This time looking to the parents McGonagall asked a silent question. Dan was silent and let his wife take lead while Emma winced slightly and gestured to a seat near the Professor before sitting on the couch near Hermione.

"I'm sorry for not suggesting so earlier Professor, but please, won't you be seated?" as she sat she looked to Danny who just stared back at her until she looked back to the Professor and put a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Danny's family recently was the victim of an attack that left him without family or home, so we've adopted him, seeing as Dan and Hermione are his last living relatives. He truly has been as a son to us these last months, and Hermione has hardly been separated from him for long." Taking a long moment and seeming to consider, she finally spoke.

"I see. May he join us then? This will affect your daughter and so he will need to be present then." Danny pushed off of the wall he had been leaning against and walked, silently, to the back of the couch, next to Dan and directly behind Hermione, staring at McGonagall, as if to say 'I'm here, get on with it.' McGonagall cleared her throat before speaking, directly at Hermione. "Miss Granger, I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

There was silence. The kind of silence that just _screams_ in your ears. Finally Dan spoke.

"Madam, I thank you not to make fun of myself and my family. I'm afraid I will have to ask you to leave."

"Sir, I do no such thing. I, am a witch and an accomplished Transfigurations Mistress, and your daughter is a witch of age to begin her schooling."

"Really!" Dan began again "I-" but Danny put hand on his shoulder and suddenly had the attention of everyone in the room. Then, he spoke.

"State Gamp's law and name the five principle exceptions." Hermione's head shot around so fast she might have hurt herself and she stopped breathing for a moment, her parents just gaping at him.

"D-danny, ar-" Emma started to ask but Danny silenced her with a look and turned his narrowed gaze back upon their guest. With a raised eyebrow and an inclination of her head she recited-

"Gamp's Law states that anything can be transfigured or conjured, yet to transfigure an object from one substance to another or in order to conjure an object, the basic composition of said object must be known. Increasing the complexity of an object's base substance increases the difficulty in its subsequent transfiguration or conjuration. The five principal exceptions to Gamp's law are food, money, clothing, objects affected by dark magic and temperature." McGonagall was staring Danny down, as if challenging him to contradict her but he just nodded once. Hermione and her parents gaped at him, the youngest Granger beginning to hyperventilate.

From her mouth spewed poison. Doubt. Fear. Discrimination. Misplaced Moralities. All of _herself_, then, seemingly from nowhere, _self_-_loathing_. She wasn't _normal_, she was _different_, a _freak_ - no _wonder_ the other kids always excluded her, they could _sense_ something _different_ about her, the-

*Smack*

Everyone stared, shocked at Danny, who had come around the couch and just slapped Hermione, the last sound before silence reigned. Then Danny knelt. Then he took Hermione's head in his hands and forced her to look in his eyes, and spoke, twice in one day, quite the rarity.

"Hermione, listen to me...it doesn't matter if you're a witch or not. Being a witch changes nothing about you, absolutely nothing. Not the past. Not the present. Not the future. The only thing that can change the here and now, or the soon to be, are the choices you make. Human beings...any sentient being, is nothing more than their memories. We _are_ our collective experiences. If I met someone who looked and acted _exactly_ like you, but didn't have the same memories, she wouldn't _be_ you. If you and I were to switch bodies right now, then the body our mind inhabited would be called as the mind was.

"Who you are..._what_ you are, won't change even if I told you you were from Mars. If you were a martian, you would be no less Hermione Jane Granger than you were five seconds ago. You are the daughter of Dan and Emma Granger, you are my cousin and you are a witch. But even if none of those were true, you would still be who _you _are.

"_Who_ you are, is a kind, sweet, interested, interesting and courageous young woman who I think of like my own little sister. As to _what _you are, you're a fine young lady with a big brain and an even bigger heart, and you could be a dragon or a werewolf or an alien from outer space and I would still love you because you _are_ Hermione. So what if you're a witch? I'm half dead. You're my little Angel and I'm your Phantom and that will _never_ change."

Nothing was said in those next moments and there was not so much as a sound of rustling cloth. Tears started to well up in her eyes and all of a sudden Hermione latched onto Danny crying even harder than before. Danny stiffened up for a moment and looked around for help, but all he saw saw the stern woman standing there with a miniscule smile on her face and Dan and Emma in a one armed hug, Dan looking proud and Emma with tears threatening to spill over, but a smile on her face as she looked on.

After a few seconds Danny put his arms around Hermione and started to stroke her hair, and after a couple more minutes she had calmed down enough to pull away. Danny looked at her, eyes puffy and red, nose slightly runny and cheeks wet.

"Yeesh, you look like you got into a fight with an onion and lost." A choked laugh was all that came out and for a moment all she did was smile at him. Then she looked at the white rumpled cloth she was holding and blushed a bit.

"Sorry about your shirt Danny." Was all she said with her slightly scratchy voice, and he snorted, then the sound of a throat clearing could be heard and she whipped around again. Hermione suddenly realized that she had not been all alone for her minor mental breakdown and blushed even harder, so much so that she almost resembled a tomato. McGonagall seemed to take pity on her and swished her wand, conjuring a handkerchief and handing it to the embarrassed girl.

"Why don't you go clean up dearie and we can continue our talk." McGonagall suggested. Hermione nodded and scurried away, presumably to a bathroom or her bedroom. Nearly as soon as they heard a door close, Hermione's parent's were on Danny, thanking him and hugging him in Emma's case, but she let him go sooner than her daughter did because she remembered that he didn't particularly like hugs. But not before thanking him again.

"Thank you Danny." All Danny could do right then was look at her like she was crazy and snort

"She's family." Was all he said, like it was all that mattered, and maybe it was, but Emma still shook her head, smiling at him as she held him at an arm's length. She spoke again, smoothing down his now, completely rumpled t-shirt.

"Still, thank you." She retreated back to her husband, who was still looking like the proudest father there was, even though he was just Danny's uncle. Danny just snorted again. McGonagall stepped towards him, gaining the room's attention.

"Thank you Daniel. Having you say that, if not the manner you said it it, has been something that few muggle-born's have the advantage of. Having someone accept them is a great boon to anyone in this situation." Danny just snorted again.

"She's family."

"Indeed. Now, I would be most interested in _how_ you knew Gamp's Law and it's five principle exceptions, or indeed, of the existence of magic at all. Generally speaking, we try very hard to keep the existence of magic a secret so as not to incite a war or a repeat of the Salem Witch Burnings. Given the extensive precautions that have been enacted in the past several hundred years, it begs the question, how did _you_ know?" Danny cocked his head slightly and looked almost quizzically at her.

"Do you know who I am?" almost perplexed by such a simple question McGonagall gathered herself for a moment

"I assume the by your relation to the granger Family you are Daniel Granger."

"My name is Danny Fenton."

"Mr. Fenton," the professor began "I have no wish to be rude, but I do not see how your name explains how you know about magic." He cocked his head at her

"You honestly don't know who I am." He whispered

"No. _Should_ I know who you are?" she questioned, imperious, yet almost wary of the answer.

"How can you _not_ _know_ who he is?" came Hermione's voice, and heads turned back to her, once more presentable appearance, eyes still slightly pink though. "He's saved the world _several_ times. He's a _Superhero_! He even has a magical nemesis!" McGonagall's eyes widened then hardened and her lips tightened into a small white line.

"I think perhaps an explanation is in order." Danny sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, eyes closed, Hermione instantly joined him on his right.

"It's a really long story." Emma admitted "Professor, how much do you know about the significant events of the last year or so, outside of the magical community?"

Several hours later, after getting everything done and over with, Hermione had a question For McGonagall.

"Professor, um, may I, wave your wand? Just so I know what to expect at Ollivander's!" she rushed. McGonagall, gave her a scrutinizing look, as if judging if she were going to turn her hair blue when she got her hands on a wand, but finally, she gave a small nod and handed Hermione her wand. When it touched Hermione's hand a gold spark shot out the tip, and, emboldened, she smiled and waved it once, only to drop it again when it gave off a shriek that shattered all of the glass in sight and was quite painful to hear. In that moment, everyone had put their hands to their ears, and then looked at Hermione when they were sure no more horrid noise would be had.

McGonagall in particular gave her a shrewd look, and then a pointed one to where she had dropped her wand. Hermione blushed and moved to pick it up, only to find that Danny had beaten her to it. He was about to hand the wand back to its proper owner, but as he finished turning, his hand continued, almost in a sort of _swish_, which was when a small spear of Ice flew from the tip of the wand and missed the Professor's head by a hairsbreadth. This time, all eyes were on him and his surprised face. Once again, Hermione spoke. "I thought wands didn't react to muggles." McGonagall stood, slightly paler than before and reclaimed her wand, before repairing the damage and vanishing the spear.

"They don't." she said sternly "I believe we still have much to discuss." Looking to Danny, McGonagall gave him a look so he knew _exactly_ what was expected of him and that it was expected _now._ Danny sighed.

"My core has a tendency to pick up powers it's been exposed to, and I've had an interesting life. A few months ago, I made a wish that Desiree interpreted as an invitation to magic me into her past and live her life, with her decisions, as a passenger, in her body, until she died. I still have some pretty big mental scars from that, but we don't hate each other now, she had to live my life too y'know? With my penchant for copycatting, I'm guessing her magic left an imprint on my core that was filled with my own power and then transformed into my own magical core or whatever wizards have, kinda like it was explained to me Vortex's weather powers did the same thing." For a while now, no one said anything, only sitting there contemplating what had been said. Of course, Hermione was the one to break the silence.

"Does this mean that Danny can come to Hogwarts too?" McGonagall mentally roused herself

"He is now a citizen of the United Kingdom, correct?" nods "Then, by law, he is required to attend Hogwarts or another such Magical school, until he reaches his age of majority, which would be seventeen, however, I would recommend a full seven years of schooling so that you may consider yourself a competent wizard in your own right. We may have some housing disputes, but I see no reason why you would not be allowed to attend Hogwarts. I'll just have to let the headmaster know that there is one more."

"Has anyone asked why _I_ want to do?" this was, of course, Danny. Heads turned, but it was Emma he paid attention to

"Please, Danny, we know she has to go, but we won't be seeing her for ten months out of the year, it would help ease our worries if we knew there was someone there she knew to watch out for her. Please, for us?" Danny closed his eyes and knew right then that he was going to go. They didn't look or sound _anything_ like each other, but he knew he was going to go because...she reminded him of his mother. It was just the way she acted, that typical _mom_ mentality, and really, he wasn't about to let his baby cousin go off to parts unknown for basically the entire year and _not_ go with her. What kind of guy would he be if he did that? He opened his eyes and winced, she was giving him the 'pleading woman' look, the one you couldn't deny and _not_ feel like a schmuck later. Now he _knew_ there was no other choice.

"Fine." She and Hermione perked up instantly, like nothing was wrong. "Sheesh," " he mumbled "I can face a tyrannical overlord with impunity but have girl pout a bit and I'm putty."

"So," Hermione asked, "what kinds of books do they have?"

April 17th 1991

The day was coming to a close, and the Granger family, Danny included, were gazing around the Alley with something akin to awe, or, in Danny's case, confused amusement. They had been to the apothecary to retrieve two sets of potions making equipment, the bookstore (for several hours) for quills and books and parchment and so Hermione could interrogate one of the workers until he broke down into tears, it was really quite funny, and to the robe shop for...well...robes. Finally, at the most important stop of the day, they had gone into Ollivander's Wand Shop, Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.

It had indeed been interesting, Hermione had ended up with a wand of Vinewood, ten and three quarters inches, with a dragon heartstring core while Danny had surprised them all by already having a wand. Ollivander had been suspicious and had nearly demanded to examine it as he 'wanted to be assured of its quality'. Surprisingly enough, he had deemed it a good match and asked where Danny had received it, to which Danny when pressed had replied-

"I have a very good friend who knows about these things, she crafted it for me personally." The wand had been made of sea watered black cedar, nine and a quarter inches, and contained a core of ethereal night mare tail hair (stolen from the Fright Knight's own steed, though only two people knew that). It was good for healing and charms. When the Grangers returned that evening, they were tired, but ready for Hermione to go to school, or as ready as they could be at least.

Soon enough though, the day was over, as was the next, then the week, then the month, and the next and all throughout that time, Hermione and Danny had gotten better at their silent communications gig. All they even needed to do now was to look each other in the eye and want to know what the other was thinking and they would; not so much in sentences or words even, but in pictures and feelings, sounds and impressions. They became rather good at this way of communicating, and, if they concentrated hard enough, _could _articulate coherent ordered thoughts to each other. They even found that they could do it to Dan and Emma, though neither of the adults knew it. Hermione was eager to explore the limits of their mutual 'mind reading' abilities, but Danny was more hesitant having known the darker side of some mind arts and, really, an eleven year old girl should _not _be in the mind of a traumatized fourteen year old boy. Before long, Hermione was speaking for Danny who kept his silent vigil, at first it was weird for the adult Grangers, but Danny nodded his confirmation enough that they just got used to it, and before any of them knew it, it was August 30th. Tomorrow, was September first, the day she left for the train, the day she would be gone for months on end, the day she would journey into the magical world.


	2. The Train and the Oaths

CHAPTER -2 The Train and the Oaths

September 1st 1991

King's Cross Station

10:43 AM

"And you have your first aid kit?" Emma asked.

"Yes mum." Hermione replied, trying not to roll her eyes, Danny just nodded his head.

"And you have our address memorized to send us owls?"

"Yes mum, you made me memorize it as soon as I could read." Hermione and Danny nodded again, this time she actually rolled her eyes, then her father cut in

"And do you have your lucky knickers?" Making no effort to hide the eye roll this time Hermione practically shouted

"Yes da-DAD! I do _not_ have 'lucky knickers'!"

"Then you're not as prepared as you thought you were were you? Lucky for you-" Emma leaned over and whispered into her husband's ear

"Dan, if you pull a pair of our daughter's knickers in the middle of the station then you won't be getting into mine for a _month_. Understand dear?" Dan paled and joking turned to Danny

"You wouldn't happen to have your lucky knickers would you?" Emma smacked him upside the head while Hermione began to reprimand him looking back when she gestures to Danny

"Honestly dad, why would Danny-" she didn't get much further though because she, along with her mother and father as well, were gawking at the skimpy purple lace thong, little more than a see through triangle and some sting, dangling from Danny's finger. Spluttering, she asked "Wha-, how, where, I mean, I...where did you get those Danny!?"

He gave her a deadpan look.

"Well, I don't _know_ where you got them, that's why I'm asking you!"

He inclined his head and raised both eyebrows for a moment.

"Yes I want to know!"

He smirked and raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, I'm sure I _am_ old enough to know!" however, before this could get any further Emma screech- uh, reasonably intervened.

"No you most certainly are _not_ young lady! And _you_!" she rounded on Danny "Get back here Daniel!" only to find him smiling broadly, walking backwards to push his trolley and using one hand to tap the watch on his other, incidentally still holding the knickers. Looking at her own watch she saw that there was still only eight minutes left to go through the barrier, get on the train and load their luggage. Emma scowled and looked back up to Danny, even farther away "We _will _be talking about this Daniel! Don't think I'll forget," He saluted her with the hand still holding the thong "and put those _away_!" He didn't of course, he just turned around and sped through the barrier.

Emma just scowled in his direction before turning back to Hermione and the...man-child, she was unfortunately married to and rolling her eyes. Squatting to get to her daughter's level she spoke.

"Dear, you'd best get going, don't want to be late for the train do you?" mother and daughter embraced, father joining not a second later. Leaning back from the hug she smiled "Now, when you see your big brother, make sure you kick him for me will you?" Hermione nodded dutifully smiling "And tell him I love him." Hermione smiled bigger and Emma quickly kissed her daughter on the head, Dan doing the same. "We love you Hermione, always remember that. Now go on, can't be late." With a quick hug to both of them Hermione turned and began pushing her trolley, huffing just a bit and running through the barrier.

Dan and Emma stood there holding each other, staring at the place their daughter had disappeared from their view, and if their eyes were at all watery, well, no one was going to say anything.

* * *

On the other side of the barrier Hermione and Danny had already loaded up their luggage and were aboard the train, Danny glaring at Hermione, a bruise on his shin forming. Sitting in a compartment on the train Danny made it a point to sit on the other side of the compartment and to huff playfully while glaring at Hermione. Hermione made a point to ignore him, smirking all the while. A small redhead and her blonde friend opened the door to the compartment and opened their mouths to ask if they could sit when they caught sight of Danny's Glare. They both paled, one of them almost whimpering and shut the door quickly running off.

"Danny!" Hermione berated him. "Why did you do that?"

He turned his glare to her, honestly confused as to what she was talking about.

"Don't give me that look! You know exactly what you did!"

He honestly had no idea what he did.

"You scared them off!"

He cocked his head to the side, questioning.

"You _glared_ at them. With a capital 'g', that's what you did!"

His head didn't move except to dip, still questioning.

"Yes you glare at everyone, but these were eleven year old girls Danny, and you can be quite intimidating!" Suddenly the door opened once more and a blonde kid, a boy this time, with slicked back hair and two large children that would look more at home in the cromagnum man exhibit. Those in the compartment looked at those at the door. Those at the door rapidly paled, gulped and shut the door quickly, the sound of running feet heard a moment later. "See?!"

Danny scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"I don't care if they were boys this time, they were still eleven, and you still scared them off, three of them this time!"

He sighed exasperatedly.

This scene replayed five more times with students of all ages and even one with a silver badge with a 'P' on it coming to the compartment and all leaving before they even said a word. Hermione had been practicing small spells all the while. Eventually a pudgy boy with a bowl cut opened the door, he went to ask for help from anyone in the compartment, but as he went to open his mouth he stopped and asked instead,

"Why is he wearing a blindfold?" and indeed, Danny was wearing a blindfold, one of his spare ties.

"Because he scared away the sweets lady." Hermione said petulantly sending her own feeble yet still improving glare towards the blindfolded boy who just clicked his tongue and pouted.

"Okay...I've lost my toad, have either of you seen him?" he paused then turned to Hermione "Well he can't see anything, but have _you_?" he asked causing Danny to 'humph' and sink down further into his slouch.

"I'm afraid we haven't," Hermione said a bit regretfully, "but we can help you look if you want?" The boy brightened visibly at that, but was still sad looking.

"You'd do that?" he asked

"Of course," she replied, pulling her brother's blindfold off "both of us, right Danny?" The boy just rolled his eyes, but he did stand up, sweeping his arms grandly, bowing as he gestured towards the door. Hermione rolled her eyes before saying "That's Danny by the way, he's my brother, and I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger."

"Neville Longbottom." The pudgy boy replied. Hermione brightened a bit and smiled.

"Well then, shall we?"

* * *

While interesting, their search was largely unsuccessful. The first door opened to see three girls of light medium and dark skin tones, generally around Danny's age with shiny broomsticks huddled in close and a crimson patch on their left breasts. They were seemingly reviewing a diagram in hushed whispers and all three looked up in a synchronized movement with the same expression on each of their faces, which was oddly creepy, finally, after one second, the oldest and darkest skinned girl asked-

"Yes?" Danny gestured to the two small people tailing him. Neville took a deep breath and stepped forward, quietly sputtering for a good few seconds before Hermione took pity on him and spoke.

"Neville's lost his toad, have you seen one?" the girls looked to each other confirming that

"No, I'm sorry but we haven't." Hermione turned to leave but Danny held a grip on her shoulder and when she looked up at him he gestured to the troika of girls meaningfully.

"Oh, um," she turned back to the girls "Thank you for answering our questions."

"It was no problem." Replied the medium skinned girl on the left with the ponytail, she was second oldest.

Hermione nodded and then left leaving Danny to roll his eyes and close the door. After they left the troika spent a moment staring at the door before the youngest girl that hadn't spoken up did.

"I've never seen him before...he was kinda cute, do you know what house he's in?"

"No," replied the second oldest "which is weird because I would totally have remembered seeing _him_ before." The oldest agreed

"Yes, and now we have something to look into to make sure the year's not boring."

"Not boring indeed." Agreed the youngest of the Gryffindor chasers affectionately known as the 'Crimson Vixens'.

* * *

On the eighth door they opened they saw an older girl with a yellow and black tie and a yellow and black crest on her left breast vigorously exploring the mouth of a boy with a blue tie hanging over his shoulder, his left breast obscured by the girl's hand which was pulling his robes in close to her so she could count his molars with her tongue. The thing that made this stand out from the other two instances they had previously encountered opening compartments up was that the girl's hair was down to her waist and changing from straight to curly to wavy to a combination of those while the color cycled from anything to everything all at once. It was truly a dizzying display.

Neville looked left, then right, then up, then down and sighed.

"Trevor's not here."

"No," Hermione replied, scrutinizing the snogging pair "but it looks like he might have a frog in his throat and she's trying to help him get it out."

Danny snorted.

The snogging couple finally broke apart, a small trail of saliva connecting them and the boy looking like he had his brains just sucked out, and he may have, along with his lungs and other internal organs as well judging by how hard the girl was going to work on him. Wiping her face with the back of one hand the girl, whose hair had returned to a _general_ uniform color and style turned to the intruders-

"Do you mind? I'm trying to teach him something here!" Hermione cocked her head and quirked her lips.

"I don't think you're doing it right, it looks more like you lobotomized him, which would _not_ be conducive to teaching him anything, though by the look on his face it doesn't look like he'll be complaining any time soon." Rainbow-bright (as Hermione had taken to calling her in the last seven seconds; admittedly a habit picked up from Danny) looked back at Dopey (another name from the last seven seconds) and grinned in an evil yet satisfied way.

"No, I'm definitely doing it right." She purred. Then she looked back to the group looking them up and down "Now what was so important that you had to interrupt Professor Tonks' lessons?"

"Have you seen a toad? Neville's lost his." Rainbow-bright roller her eyes (an interesting effect when she's shifting the color as well as the size), crossed her arms under her chest and shook her head.

"I was teaching Ryan the proper way to snog the sense out of someone, I haven't seen much of anything."

"Oh," Hermione's left pointer finger came up to her mouth "well thank you anyway." She said nodding.

"No problem kid." Was the parting shot, the parting scene however was Rainbow-bright grabbing Dopey's tie and crashing her lips into his again. If one were to observe Mr. Longbottom at this point his face would be capable of putting to shame a tomato in color and a bonfire in heat.

* * *

The next compartment was...interesting. it looked like a shouting match between a lovcraftian horror in blue crested robes and...uh...well, there weren't exactly words..._adequate_ to describe...whatever the hell that was wearing green crested robes but they were shouting and exchanging colored lights vigorously.

Needless to say, they left rather quickly.

* * *

Trevor leapt out of the way as a tentacle with an eyeball that opened to razor sharp teeth. He was already regretting letting that pudgy human take him from the garden with promises of all the flies he could eat. Now he had to deal with seven _years_ of this crap? Hell no, he was escaping...as soon as the door opened, for now though, he was hiding behind the cushions.

* * *

In one of the later compartments, which they got to after deciding to split up, Hermione and Danny found two boys with red and black hair in the middle of an explosion of sweets. Wrappers were everywhere and there was even a rat gorging on - a box of jelly beans. That didn't immediately register though, as she had been doing it so long Hermione automatically spouted-

"Have anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one." What caught Hermione's interest a moment later however, was that the redheaded child had his wand out and pointing at the rat. Red replied

"No." while looking at them strangely

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it then." Red cleared his throat, mouth covered by his left hand then recited

"_Sunshine Daisies Butter Mellow, turn this Stupid Fat Rat Yellow_!" There was a tiny whoosh, a flash of yellow light and a displeased rat that had just been blinded and relieved of his feast. The four of them looked at the squealing rodent then the two younger boys shrugged their shoulders, they _were_ just students, and not even in their first class after all.

To Danny it was clear that that incantation was nothing but made up crap and he displayed this thought with an imperious eyebrow raise, Hermione on the other hand couldn't contain her disdainful disbelief and had to ask.

"Are you sure that's a _real_ spell? Well," she continued on ignoring the looks of 'who the hell is this?' directed from Red to Specs, as the black haired boy was called. "it's not a very good one is it? I've only tried a few simple ones myself, but they've all worked for me." She reached into her robe and took out her wand, highly polished, as it was obvious she was excited to do so. What she didn't understand though was why her whole family laughed each time she announced she was off to 'polish her wand'. She sat down. "For example," she pointed her wand at Spec's specs "_Occulous Reparo."_

With a sputtering _whoosh_ the tape flew off of a newly mended bridge and the glass in the frames of his glasses mended together, neither of them cracked anymore. Danny, despite knowing what she was going to do, nearly had an aneurism watching his little cousin point a wand at someone's head. He did that once and he nearly skewered the poor woman on a spear of ice! He _knew _Hermione knew what she was doing, but_ still_, it didn't help him freak out any less.

"There, _that's_ better now, isn't it?" the boy, specs, took off his glasses and stared at them in awe, turning to look at red he inadvertently shifted his bangs allowing a lightning bolt scar to show through. "Holy _Cricket_! _You're_ Harry Potter! I'm Hermione Granger and that's my brother Danny." She said brightly and, just a bit snobbishly. She turned to red asking almost disdainfully of the boy with dirt on his face and cheeks stuffed full of food "And, _you_ are?"

"Um, Ron Weasly." Red said pleasantly. Or he would have if it didn't sound like 'grum Hrung Hueezey'. Fortunately for the boy though, Hermione was the daughter of two Doctors of Dental Surgery, in a more common sense, she was the daughters of two people who were experts on how to understand what people meant when their mouth was full of drool and foreign objects, in pain on one half and numb on the other, a skill that lent itself well to understanding 'Hrung Hueezey'.

"Pleasure." She said, warily eyeing him, she did _not_ want to end up splattered in food like the cushion Ron was across from. Turning back to the less dangerous side of the compartment Hermione addressed spec-er...Harry. "You two had best change into your robes, I expect we'll be arriving soon." With that she got up and got ready to leave saying to Ron, "You've got _dirt_ on your nose, by the way, just there." she pointed to the side of her own nose "Did you know?" She then dragged an exasperated Danny behind her leaving the two boys slightly _very_ much confused as to what had happened.

* * *

Three compartments later Neville came up to them holding a traumatized toad. And Neville somehow had gotten his robes turned fluorescent purple and they were now gnawing on him. Hermione took one look at him and, taking a leaf from her mother's book upon seeing the strange conditions Danny sometimes turned up in, decided

"I'm not even going to ask."

* * *

It was dark out when the train began to slow down. Hermione, Danny and Neville had eaten whatever snacks they could (the sweets leady had made another round), but were still hungry as it was getting ready to be past their usual dinner time. Finally when the train softly screeched to a halt the windows on the train were rattled by an enormous voice calling out to the students pouring out of the doors of the train opened by the youngest looking group of people with shiny 'P' badges on their chests, two from each color group seen so far.

"Righ' then, firs' years, this way please! C'mon now, firs' years don't be shy! C'mon now, hurry up! C'mon!" The voice _seemed_ to be coming from a ten foot tall man with hands the size of trash can lids holding an old style lantern. 'Seemed' was the appropriate word because it was hard to see his face in the dark with the lantern shining so much light in it, and the giant wiry black beard reaching two feet down to just around his chest didn't help show his mouth either.

The large man's hair was rather unkempt, he wore what seemed to be self made clothes, crafted from animals he had possibly killed himself. He had a leather belt with a large ring of keys adorning it, just to the side of a brown leather pouch that, if Hermione wasn't mistaken, had a mole's head as a cover flap. Beady black eyes shone from the darkness, like two beetles glimmering in the dark, before fixing on to a single target. From the way the beard stretched to the sides he was either smiling or frowning, doubts of which it was were dispelled when he called out in a jovial voice-

"Hello Harry." To which spe- er- _Harry_ replied

"Hello Hagrid." Hagrid, as Hermione now called him, which was much better than the name she had previously come up with, then turned and started walking calling out behind him

"Right then, this way to the boats, c'mon now, follow me."

After trekking through the small townlet the group came upon a small dock with boats. They received instructions of, apparently, no more than four to a boat and each group held a lantern.

In his dark robes and with his stern visage holding the lantern in one of the leading boats, shadows cast harshly upon his scowling face, he might easily be mistaken for Hades own Charon. Ferrying new souls across the misty waters under the palest moonlight, clouds casting glancing shadows over the landscape yet not over the silent procession gliding across the inky black waters all heading to the same destination.

Hermione felt quite poetic describing her older brother as such, the only downside being that everyone would be dead if she was making a proper likeness...and people were whispering everywhere so it wasn't silent...and a cloud just cast a shadow on them. Honestly, it had sounded better in her head when she didn't second guess and argue with herself. Well, the castle really did look majestic up on that cliff there...how were they getting up there? Were they supposed to climb a ridiculous amount of steps or something? Oh well, don't ruin it for yourself and no one will ruin it for you.

Of course, then came the startled yelp and great splash followed by the sound of a Danny face-palming, she had grown quite familiar with that sound over their time together, and a sprinkle of water signifying, yes, Neville _had_ fallen into the lake. Before they were gone too far though, Danny reached in and hauled him back in, sputtering and dripping water everywhere. Seeing this Danny took off his robe and Gave it o Neville, getting a small

"Thanks."

* * *

After a long walk up an un-godly amount of stairs they came upon Professor McGonagall standing expectantly at the top of the last set of stairs at the edge of the landing, speaking when they had all stopped before her.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. Now in a few moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates, but before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses, they are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw...and Slytherin." The disdain hanging from that word wasn't just heard, you could nearly see it dripping from the air itself, almost as if to become solid. "Now while you're here your house will be like your family, your triumphs will earn you points, any rule-breaking, and you will lose points." Around this time a tiny sound faintly started "At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup." Neville interrupted however

"TREVOR!" he shouted lunging through people to the top of the stairs and the front of the pack (not a crowd, these are rabid-child beasts, they are a pack) and directly in front of the ever stern Minerva McGonagall. There was a small smattering of laughter before Neville looked up into the professor's face and back away, muttering a "Sorry." along the way. As he had retreated back into the pack the professor continued.

"The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily." She was about to go off, but stopped, looking straight at Danny "Mr. Fenton, you will be the last one sorted, your circumstances will be explained before you are called up. Please stay by the entrance when we arrive." 'Circumstances' being the cover story she and Dumbledore had come up with and notified the Grangers of. This time she _did_ turn and go through the great golden doors, leaving more than a few people staring at the tall fourteen year old. That is of course until Slick (a name of seven seconds Hermione came up with when Danny had first scared him off) started to talk in a, bad, casually surprised voice.

"It's true then, what they're saying on the train...Harry potter has come to Hogwarts." Danny saw that little gleam in Slick's eye (Hermione liked to tell him her names for people, it generally amused him and she did so like to see him smile) as the excited whispering spread and new that that little..._ponce_ would be a major annoyance, if for no other reason than because of his bad acting skills. His apparent need to be the center of attention didn't help either. "This is Crabbe," he nodded to tweedle dee "and Goyle," and to tweedle dum "And I'm Malfoy," at this point he got all up in Spec's personal space...Harry, _Harry's_ personal space, standing on the stair just above him looking down, smirking. Oh hellz yes, this kid would be annoying. "Draco Malfoy."

Red snickered. Slick looked over assessing Red in less than half a second.

"Think my name's funny do you?" then he sneered, quite badly too, "There's no need to ask yours..."

And so it went, the first move for most dominate/popular kid in their year.

Famous kid VS. Rich kid.

FIGHT!

Hermione shook her head a bit, she really needed to stop watching her brother play all of those fighting games, but really, the background music was so catchy, and it was interesting to watch your brother go _into_ the games and kick all of the character's arses. Regardless, Hermione stopped listening, there was no point really, she didn't get along with girls that liked to gossip for one, and what eleven year old could beat her brother the _superhero_? Yeah, right, like that was going to happen, he'd saved the world _several_ times, and the time stream, and the fabric of reality. Really, there was no comparison.

The sound of paper, _parchment_, they used parchment here, ruffling against something brought her attention back. Slick was moving back to the pack and Professor McGonagall looked slightly more irritated than usual as she eyed him. She addressed the pack again

"We're ready for you now, follow me." She turned and lead the pack up the last staircase and down the hall, great golden doors opening in front of her as she walked leading the students into...quite honestly, it looked like a cult gathering. Candles were everywhere, everyone wore the exact same thing, all of their heads were on swivel turning to look silently at the new arrivals. Not a word was spoken. It seriously creeped Hermione out for a moment. Then, someone coughed, and the moment was broken, it had lasted less than a second anyways.

The pack followed McGonagall in between the middle of four long tables, each student wearing a colored crest on their left breast, under banners of the same color. The banners were depicting, from left to right, a bronze and silver eagle on a blue field, a black and white badger on a yellow field, a golden lion on a crimson field, and a silver snake on a green field.

"That's not really the ceiling, it's just bewitched to look like the night sky. I read about it, in Hogwarts, A History." Hermione spouted. She didn't even know the girl next to her but she couldn't help it, she was _excited,_ and when Hermione was excited she spouted facts. As the procession stopped McGonagall informed them that 'Professor Dumbledore has a few start of term announcements he's like to make.'

The elderly Merlin-y looking wizard in the golden throne stood, tucking his impressive beard into himself and clearing his throat before calling out in an aged and scratchy voice that was still somehow full of life

"Before we begin, I have a few, start of term notices I wish to announce." He looked directly at the group of children, briefly glancing at the back of the hall "The first years, please note, that the Dark Forest is _strictly_ forbidden to _all_ students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch" he inclined his head briefly to a gangly balding man, in dirty brown clothes, with a permanent sneer etched on his face and standing next to a raggedy cat. Danny knew they were dirty because he could smell them. "has asked me to remind you all, that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds, to everyone who does not wish to die, a most _painful_ death...Thank You." He finished with a smile.

Danny raid an eyebrow. Hermione wasn't needed to interpret this, it was a clear cut case of 'What. The. Hell?' The feeling continued even as the hat started to sing, which he promptly blocked out until the applause was done.

McGonagall spoke again.

"Now when I call your name, you shall come forward, and I shall place the Sorting Hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses."

It was started off with 'Abbot, Hanna' who was a Hufflepuff and before she knew it, 'Granger, Hermione' was being called.

Hermione walked, warily, shakily, to the stool, to the _hat_ that would play a _crucial_ role in the next seven _years_ of her life.

She sat down.

She felt the weight of the cloth on her head.

Inside her head she felt a...twitch? A brush? A...movement. It was searching, searching for _something_...then, it made a connection, and, inside her mind, like only Danny had ever done to her, it _spoke._

_Hello miss Granger. Oh, what have we here, already exploring mind magics are we?_

What? She wasn't _exploring_, more...she needed a way to communicate with Danny, so she did.

_A fine Rationalization, if I do say so myself, I find myself impressed with your thirst for knowledge; blue and bronze will look good on you in the hou-_

NO! STOP!

_No need to shout_. _I'm in here with you, I hear even the faintest whispers inside your mind. Now, tell me child, why don't you want me to sort you into the house of knowledge?_

well...I was..._hoping_...you might consider sorting me into..._Gryffindor_...maybe?

_Oh? Why would you want to go there? The house of the brave, bold and courageous, the brash and the foolhardy, the Lions' Den. You could certainly fit in there, thrive even, but why not encourage academic growth? Why not sit with like minded individuals?_

b...bec...Because Danny is most _certainly_ going to be sorted into Gryffindor...and I don't want to be without him...He's my only friend.

_...from what I see of him in your memories, he's certainly smart enough, intelligent enough, cunning enough and _resourceful_ enough to easily fit into Ravenclaw _or_ Slytherin. From the stories he's told you, he cares enough, is loyal enough and trains enough to be in Hufflepuff, and yet...you're absolutely _sure_ that he'll land in Gryffindor. He certainly is _brave_ enough, and his brash attitude would make him a hit instantly, if he spoke that is, but that's true enough for his other characteristics and the other houses. Why are you so _sure_ he'll be a lion?_

I...Danny told me I'm as brave as I am smart but in situations with equal amounts bravery and intelligence, intelligence wins out; intelligence only loses when someone's a lot more brave than they are intelligent...or they get really mad...or drunk.

_Interesting wisdom to pass on to a younger relative, true, none the less. You didn't answer my question however._

Danny has done a lot of things that while intelligent...were also incredibly stupid and amazingly brave. He usually ends up saving the day too. He's _very_ courageous.

_Hmmm...he will be an interesting one to sort no doubt, but we're here for _you_ miss Granger. While Mr. Fenton most likely _will_ turn out a lion, it doesn't seem like he would take to his house above his _family_ now does it?_

I...well...

_Why not the _real_ reason you want to be a Gryffindor, the one we both know I can see, in the back of your mind, hmmm?_

I...don't want Danny to be _disappointed_ in me.

_He won't you know. He'd be even more proud of you if you were an Eagle, in the house of knowledge, where you _belong_._

I..._I'd_ be disappointed in me if I wasn't in Gryffindor. I _know_ I'm smart, but I want to know I'm _brave_ too.

_I am the penultimate authority on where you belong, on where you will go, on which house you _belong_ in. I made my choice the moment I saw you're intelligence...yet you stood up to me, argued with me, and most importantly, _asked_ me. I think that's definitely _brave_ enough to be sorted into-_

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted, resulting in an explosion of cheers from the red and gold, the house of the brave, the House of the Lions!

Hermione jumped off the stool the moment the hat left her head and made her way to the Gryffindor table, the whole way her eyes were locked on Danny. At first there was no reaction other than the light widening of his eyes, but then, finally after an _eternity_ of one second, the _largest_, _proudest_ smile she had ever seen on Danny's face broke out. It made her feel warm and tingly in her chest and as her own smile grew to Cheshire proportions, she knew she'd made the right decision.

* * *

Danny saw Hermione smiling nervously and looking straight at him, the hat having just placed her in Gryffindor, and he could see, could practically _feel_ her desire, her _need_ of him approving of her placement. All of this was communicated in less than a second, but he understood, and to be honest, he was kinda proud of her, so he smiled. Not just one of his usual half grins or self depreciating smirks, but a full blown smile. So the sorting continued, the noise level plummeted to a fierce whisper when 'Specs', he gave a mental snicker at that, Hermione was corrupting nicely now, was called but it grew to nearly a Super Bowl level when he was sorted into the same house as his little cousin. Eventually the last _small_ firstie was sorted and everyone began to talk before Dumbledore rose up again to speak.

"We have a special student to be sorted this year; due to a muggle construction company's mistake, an ancient druidic artifact was broken, which blanketed the surrounding area for miles in a strong concentration of wild magic." There was some hushed murmuring at that "Because of this unexpected release and the resulting interference, the ministry sensors were not able to detect the birth of a muggle-born wizard some fourteen years ago. Only due to the happy circumstance of him visiting his cousin, Miss Hermione Granger recently of Gryffindor House, when she received her own letter was it determined that he was in fact a wizard." What the hell? It was going to get out eventually, but before she made any friends in her house? What the Hell? "He chose to accompany his cousin to Hogwarts to learn instead of opting for tutors and will be starting as a first year." There were a few scoffs around the room at that, most from the green section but some from the blue "Once he is sorted, please welcome him as you would any other new student, thank you." Dumbledore sat once more and there was more excited chattering as McGonagall held the parchment open and picked up the sorting hat calling-

"Fenton, Daniel." There were only a few gasps around the Hall, the loudest being from a Ghost passing the Great Hall, speeding off to spread the news to every ghost she saw, telling them to spread the news as well, eventually the portraits got in on it and in less than thirty seconds every non-living being in Hogwarts knew, Danny Phantom had come to Hogwarts.

As Danny walked, calmly and with measured steps to the front of the Great Hall, he felt the eyes of every person on him, after a year of constant battle how could he not? With the speed of his walk he reached the stool in ten seconds. The thing was designed for small eleven year olds. Danny was over six feet tall. The thing didn't reach his knee. He spent five seconds staring at it before looking to McGonagall with an incredulous eyebrow raise, he was getting _very_ expressive with his eyebrows lately. She just raised her own eyebrow right on back.

"It _is_ tradition." She stated so, with a drawn out sigh, so she would know how ridiculous he found this, he sat down on the foot and a half tall stool. His knees were higher than his butt. Immediately there were snickers around the hall, one or two even from the staff table, but they were ignored with all the dignity he could muster, which considering his seat, wasn't all that much. The Hat descended.

Silence for a good ten seconds before a sigh was heard.

"Please lower the shields around your mind Mr. Fenton, my design makes me incapable of intentional harm." More whispering broke out at this and he could feel a few of the stares get more intense, a couple of them were from behind him. Danny tensed for a moment, but eventually, slowly, almost tentatively, he let his shields open a crack, when no attack was immediately forthcoming Danny opened them further just enough to let someone see, but not touch and heard it's voice in his head.

_Part of the magic that makes me able to sort the students correctly gives me an inability to lie, but if you do not believe that then you will not believe anything I may say. Having said that however, I am supposed to go through a person's entire life and determine where they may best flourish. Ah, yes, you caught that, determine, not judge, and I am incapable of divulging your secrets without your permission, another of my functions, so if I may?_

Danny had no worded thoughts in his head, rather he was fighting his natural sense of mistrust versus the need to do as thousands had done before him without any notable harm, at least, not documented in any history book his little cousin had read. With a final flash of begrudging, he let the hat in, it only took a moment for the blanket to fall through his entire mind, and the hat seemed to process it all very quickly before it began thinking at him again.

_Hmmm, at first glance a Gryffindor, Brave and Brash and Hard Headed, charging in at the first sign of danger, until your impressive Loyalty is called into play; Loyalty to an entire town of people who gave you naught but scorn. You even took care to return your enemies home rather than just destroying them or handing them over to your parents, Loyalty and Compassion, a Hufflepuff if I ever saw one, especially with the inordinate amount of Hard Working sleepless nights you gave to their safety as well as ensuring you got your lesser duties like homework and chores done in addition to being the town's guardian. Loyalty, Compassion, Hard Work and Determination. Very Hufflepuff._

_But then there is your Intelligence, you sought to end as many conflicts as you could without violence choosing instead to reason with them, and your exploration of the knowledge of an entire realm of new beings must be taken into account as well. You acted as negotiator and peace-keeper more than once, using your brain to produce a solution agreeable to all with no violence and bloodshed, or as little as possible at the very least. People see you as an under achiever, but really the only way you could even keep as high of an average as you did was to rely on your innate Intelligence and the small amount of studying you get in. That and your extensive knowledge of mechanics, engineering and programming as demonstrated when you saved the world this latest time along would have guaranteed you a spot in Ravenclaw alone. Yes, Intelligence, Logic and Reasoning skills, Ravenclaw would welcome you with open arms and open pages as well. But no, neither your year group nor your age group would accept you, both for the same reasoning, the knowledge gap; too much for first years yet nowhere near enough for fourth years._

_Now on to your inner Slytherin, you, alone, sought to protect a town of thousands, all by yourself, with no back up whatsoever, from all Ghost attacks as well as preventing crimes you come across. Oh I know you had your friends, but they never _truly_ fought at your side, merely offering distractions at best and interference at worst. That is pure Ambition, enough alone to gain you access into Salazar's house, but then there is your Cunning, fiendish as it is, and how you use it to defeat you enemies. Yes, many have knowledge of their enemy's weaknesses but it takes Cunning to apply them creatively and skillfully enough to defeat them, and with your record of victories and the number of people after your head for their defeat, your Cunning is truly impressive, in and out of battle. I especially enjoyed watching you frequently get one over on that Vlad character, a true Slytherin if I ever saw one. Yet, your morality and the current immorality of a large portion of Slytherin House would see the entire castle razed to the ground in a month's time, no, definitely _not_ Slytherin._

_Which brings us back to Gryffindor...you have shown Bravery, Courage, Daring and an extreme willfulness to protect others. Also, it is rather hard to distinguish between Hufflepuff Determination and Gryffindor Stubbornness at times. But what truly tipped the scale in deciding where you belong is the sheer Brash Audacity you have in deciding to give me to your dog as a chew toy if I don't, what was it again, 'Shut up and place you with your cousin'? Hmph!_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Through the ridiculous amount of cheering Danny could hear his little cousin's excited squeals. God, he _was_ a bad influence on her, Emma said she _never_ made a noise even _close_ to a squeal before she met Danny.

* * *

Hermione watched, calmed from her squeal, Danny was a terrible influence on her, as Danny got up, stretched his back out and pushed the stool to the side, gave the hat back to McGonagall and then she saw it, Danny tensed, his eyes extra blue for a moment, and he opened his mouth letting his breath out, the air so cold that everyone could see his breath. Then they came, through the walls and through the floor, through the ceiling and through the door, they came. Ghosts were pouring through everywhere, eliciting shrieks of alarm when their icy bodies passed through Hermione jolted when she felt then saw a young woman travel through her chest. This wasn't her first experience with walking through a ghost, just the only time it was a ghost she didn't know. Slowly their objective became known as they all congregated on a single spot, right in front of Danny. All the while, Hermione heard the students talking, interspersed with shrieks of alarm, about what was happening, how it had never happened before, how the Bloody Barron was never seen with the Grey Lady, how Sir Nicholas was looking unusually severe and that for once, the Fat Friar was _not_ smiling. She only knew who was being spoken about because someone down the table commented that it was odd for them to all come together at once, not to mention leading a veritable army of ghosts as well.

The 'Bloody Baron' was dressed as a musketeer with the traditional clothes, hat and sword, shackles on his wrists and a bloodstain spread across his chest and sleeve, a visible hole over his heart and blood coming out the corner of his mouth. His face was one of Great Fury and Broken Regret.

The 'Grey Lady' was dressed in a simple gown, with a swooping neck line hinting at but showing no cleavage, sleeves reaching her wrists and the bottom hem just showing the tips of her shoes. The dress was mussed and ripped in places, only a shadow of a bruise on her face, her sleeve was slightly torn and under her left arm was a wound which had bled profusely having soaked her side under her arm. If carefully examined the back of her head carefully, you could see bloody bark entwined about her once elegant curls. Her eyes held Sadness an Fear even as her face remained empty.

Sir Nicholas was dressed to the nines prepared for a royal court, his buttons shone, his ruffles were fluffed, his clothes stiff and sharp, his cape sweeping off his shoulders in a Dashing way, even his socks were the best, there were only a few droplets of blood around his neckline and in his goatee. His face held Annoyance and Resignation his lips slightly quirked as if in self Depreciation.

Last was the 'Fat Friar' dressed simply in monks robes, head shaved as monks were wont to do just on the top. His face was Panicked even as it held a bit of Mirth.

The four aforementioned ghosts stopped a good twenty feet from Danny and started divesting themselves of weapons. The Baron removes his sword a boot knife and a bloody dagger from his sleeve, putting them on, and somehow in the sword's case, in the stone floor. Sir Nick removed a knife from his boot and tossed it aside, the Friar sheepishly removed a club from the folds of his robes and the lady a dagger, twin to the one removed by the Baron and handed it to the Friar who took it and placed it carefully on the ground.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked McGonagall.

"We seek an audience with the Defeater of Pariah Dark." Said Sir Nicholas

"Knight of the Dragon Court." Spoke the Lady

"High King Phantom." the Friar piped up.

"Lord of all Ghosts." added the Baron

With each title the noise level ratcheted down to silence, then exploded with shouted whispers, everyone was whispering, except Hermione, Danny, McGonagall, Dumbledore and the hook nosed man in black. Everyone was looking up to the front of the room, talking out of the sides of their mouths but not willing to miss a single second of what was happening. So they got noticeably quieter when Danny raised his left hand, silencing, just like he wanted them to, and he spoke.

Everyone heard his voice and in the coming months would realize how rare a thing that would be even as it etched itself in their memories. It was slow and somewhere between boy and man, deep, but not much so, soft, and yet carrying an edge of steel, cool to the point of frigidity sending shivers down many a spine, more than a few in fear but others in something hotter and more primal as their eyes glazed over a small amount.

"For what reason do you seek audience with the High King? To beg a boon perhaps?" The Baron took a half step forward and inclined his bowed slightly, never taking his eyes from Danny as he rose and spoke

"We seek his audience to rectify an inexcusable discourtesy on our part. Though we felt his coming, saw the portents and signs, we ignored them, believing him incapable of the journey required. T'was a grievous gaffe on the part of the Hogwarts Ghosts, and one we seek to rectify immediately. Might an audience be granted?"

Everyone, ghost or not, held their breath, waiting for what was going to happened. Then, Danny sighed, and somehow, it carried clearly to even the back of the Hall. Finally, after standing silent for a few, infinite seconds, a ring of light exploded from his middle, pausing at two feet away and pulsing twice in quick succession, all silently watching in fascination. They had told McGonagall of the transformation and she had obviously told Dumbledore everything for him to go along with the charade that he was _born_ with magic instead of acquiring it by accident, but they hadn't shown any of his powers to her. When asked to demonstrate he had just scowled lightly and Hermione informed McGonagall he didn't like performing for a crowd.

He didn't even transform on command for Hermione, so it was a show for everyone as the ring expanded and split, going up and down simultaneously transforming robes to a black and white jumpsuit, sculpted to his body, silver belts holding a regal and deadly looking sword. His legs, from the spiked knee down, were covered in metal whiter than snow shining bright, dark elegant carvings covering them in stark contrast to his black leggings. His right arm from the wrist down the same in the color of black oblivion white line carvings shining like starlight from the depths of space, ending in the deadly sharp points of his fingers, left arm much the same, ending at his shoulder instead. On his left shoulder lat the silver head of a snarling dragon seeming to breath out the swirling flame like carvings upon his armored arm horns jutting proudly up, a mix of light and dark. Under the dragon, across his shoulders, lay a cape, pure white and shining on the outside, and darker than nightmare on the inside. His skin had darkened slightly, his hair had grown out and bleached to a color of shining white to match his greaves and cape, or they to match his hair which, but for a few errant strands framing his face, was pulled back and tied by a ribbon making it easy to see his eyes. His _eyes_, his glowing toxic, deathly _green_ eyes that seemed to pierce directly into your soul and keep on going as if you were insignificant to their mission of seeing what they decided, as if nothing could hide from them.

No one spoke. No one moved, save Danny. He lifted his right hand, palm outwards fingers tilted left hand flat and fingers spread, as if against a wall or a sheet of glass. The tips of his fingers lit in a white flame, a flame that seemed more_ solid_ more _real_ than any other flame many had seen before shining white like his hair, and he rotated his hand clockwise, flames trailing in wake before connecting with each other in a perfect circle of fire. Thumb, previously down was now up and Danny flattened his hand out, as if offering the fire, which had moved with his hand and was now hovering and inch above his palm, to the audience. Then the fire turned and _weaved_ upon itself forming stronger and stronger until it was the same metal as his greaves now formed into a simple elegant shining crown framing a bright green gem in the middle as a crowning jewel. Then it lit up as before, in 'regular' white fire. The flames drew in towards the center of the crown, turning to a shade lighter than the black color as his gauntlets, but tinged slightly with green before gaining the same 'realness' of the crown and becoming a ring with the image of a sole skull where a crest would have been.

Danny took the two items, the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire and put them on, the ring first, it sliding easily over his armor, and then the crown, some of his own hair coming alight and joining the crown in its blaze. Cupping his hands he blew into them, chilled air visibly falling from them, before releasing his hands and letting a shining blue light fall to the ground. The light quickly became hoarfrost which crept and crawled at an incredible rate, growing to an icy throne directly behind him, which he promptly sat in. Danny put his right hand across his lap, close to his sword and his left on the arm of the throne, his head resting on the armored palm.

"You have your audience, speak." Danny's voice had gained an ethereal quality, fading quickly yet lingering inside of an echo yet he looked...bored? Resigned? Exasperated? Perhaps a little of all three. Once more, the Hall exploded into a thunderously hushed storm of whispers screaming softly across the hall. The Grey Lady came forward first, curtsying respectfully to him, head bowed.

"We did not know, my Lord, that you were capable of Magic, and so did not think that you could visit us inside the Wards. We, the Ghosts of Hogwarts, beg forgiveness for our ignorance and ask nothing of you but to accept the solemn oaths we must make, not as a matter of restitution, but as a matter of propriety and protocol." She intoned rigidly and emotionlessly.

"Of which oaths do you speak? There are many which might apply as well you know...Helena." Not only the Grey Lady's but also the Bloody Baron's head jerked at the mention of her living name.

"How-" she started, fire in her eyes, before remembering her station in the proceedings "Might I inquire, my Lord, as to how _exactly_ you came upon that name?" she was barely restrained from screeching at him, everyone would _know_ know her _mother_, know her _shame_.

Danny raised an eyebrow...snobbishly at that.

"Do you not think I would research the relevant _subjects_ I was to spend so much time around?" She stiffened greatly but carried forth none the less, bowing slightly.

"It is as you say, my Lord. The oath I spoke of was the Oath of Fealty to be performed under service to an ascendant King by each vassal fiefdom's ruler. The grounds of Hogwarts being the joining of four separate fiefdoms gifted by a living king at the time to the four greatest witches and wizards of the age for the deeds performed in service to the crown. The castle itself is on the border of the four lands as equal ground and thus requiring the four 'House Ghosts', as your loyal subjects, to swear our oaths under your rule for each ghost Hogwarts contains and resides under the banner of the house we represent, my Lord."

Danny sighed, long and deep.

"I knew of that already, I asked of your intended oath and you gave answer. I only ask as gatherings such as this are precedent for either oaths of vengeance and feuds or for celebrations or _attempted_ celebrations when one tries to sell their daughter to me as a bride. I take a dim view of such poor maneuvering." He announced and, if any had been paying attention to the quarter of the students with green upon their breast, one might find signs of the table as a whole calculating their first move towards the king. "Are you prepared to give your Oaths then?"

There were four responses to the tune of 'yes my lord'. The Lady started off, curtsying so deep as to almost be kneeling.

"I promise on my spirit that I will in the future be faithful to my lord, never cause him harm and will observe my homage to him completely against all beings in good faith and without deceit, so swear I, Helena 'The Grey Lady' upon the house of Ravenclaw." She remained bowed until Danny stood, walked forward and took her hand in his own saying-

"I accept your Oath, Helena of House Ravenclaw." So saying he raised her up and, without bowing, kissed her hand, a shock going through her, causing her to gasp, stiffen up and then grit her teeth until...she was washed over with color and her shadow grew, as did her sense of 'realness', she was solid again and shocked into silence. Without a care he pushed the hand he still held, making her float backwards to her spot until she was caught by Sir Nicholas and the Fat Friar. "Whom shall be next to give their oath?" he asked blandly.

Next was The Bloody Baron, swearing as 'Christoph de Sang'.

Then Nearly Headless Nick, swearing as 'Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington'.

Lastly was the Fat Friar as 'Edmund Burr'.

Each in turn gave their oath, and each in turn regained solid form, they were weak, but they were solid. Throughout the entire oath giving, the Hall was speechless. He had _touched_ a ghost. He had made a ghost _solid!_ No such thing had _ever_ been done before!

Ignoring the crowd in general, Danny turned his back on the hall and placed a hand on his throne, calling the ice back into himself. Then he removed his ring, and his crown, and sent them back to their primordial being in flashes of fire which were then absorbed back into himself. He then turned back to the Ghosts and said-

"Your audience is over, return to your business." Then he walked _through_ the _solid_ ghosts, and through the incorporeal ghosts, and straight down the middle of the Hall. A blazing point of white appeared before him, expanding in a double pulse of light to a vertical ring that Danny walked through, returning himself to his common raven haired appearance, before returning in a double pulse back to a disappearing white speck.

Danny sat beside his cousin, giving her a one armed hug, for which he was immediately glomped, and she began to question him, retaining eye contact.

"I didn't know you had a crown like _that_, why didn't you show me?"

He shrugged.

"What do you mean 'not important'? It certainly is, if for no other reason than so I don't freak out if I see your head on fire!"

He rolled his eyes. Reaching into his pockets for something.

"Yes I _know_ you have ice powers, but even if it is cold it can still catch on fire and I wouldn't have known, I'd have just seen my brother with his head on fire!"

He sighed exasperatedly and rolled his eyes. Hermione crossed her arms and raised her left eyebrow, a move she had been practicing for just such an occasion.

"I can send a letter to Mum to tell her that you never thought being on fire was important enough to tell her. She's still angry about those lacy purple knickers you know, she demanded I find out who they came from. I think she wants you to bring her by the house."

Danny snorted and began to chuckle and removed his hand from his pocket, iPod clutched in hand, he put a single earbud in and pressed play. Hermione was going to start in on him again when a polite cough broke through causing her to look towards the front hall. Dumbledore had risen and was removing his had from his mouth.

"As interesting as your discussion has become Miss Granger, the feast still needs to be started, I think the other students have waited long enough."

That was when Hermione realized, the students, _all_ of the students, were now looking at her and Danny. Mostly Danny, but she was doing all of the 'talking' so her as well, especially after the knickers comment. Hermione blushed and tried to hide in her brother's side, her brother who was just laughing about the whole thing, silently of course.

"I would like to say a few words now, before the feast begins," there was a silent yet physically felt _groan_ from the hungry students. "and they are, Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, Tweak. Thank you." He raised his hands as if in a sign of prayer then spread them "Tuck in."

Food appeared, and the students dug in with a fervor. Students were asking Danny about himself, Hermione mostly answering after explaining-

"He doesn't really talk much, in fact, I think that's the most I've ever heard him say at once. It's rare for him to speak that much." At the end of the meal the people with shiny 'P' badges on their robes led the first year students to their dorms and he found he would not be in the dorms with the rest of the first years, he would instead be with the third years, which consisted of a pair of red headed twins and a black kid with dread locks and a tarantula. They were Fred and George Weasly and Lee Jordan.

Tomorrow, the first day of schooling would begin.


End file.
